My Experiment on the Best Times To Post on Social Media

My social media strategy was stale. I needed to revamp and refocus my efforts.

Since 2010 I’ve been researching and experimenting using social media for business. When I began, the strategy was simple – have a presence on social media – but it has gotten more complicated, not to mention more crowded. While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn remain my steadfast platforms, there are a lot more players on the scene that need consideration — Pinterest, Instagram, Periscope and more.

Over the years, I’ve studied the return on social media investment, target marketing, and best times to post. While I’ve dabbled in the latest news on these topics, I’ve primarily stuck to the beat of my own drummer.

I post what I think my social media communities think is helpful, amusing, or engaging and it’s worked to get me visibility, networking contacts, leads, and clients.

BUT

The landscape of social media is changing. It’s significantly more crowded, making it more challenging than ever to get my brand’s voice heard.

I suspected my content was not the problem but  rather it was the times of day I was posting – Monday through Friday, primarily during business hours. That’s when I came across the Co-Schedule download called The Ultimate Best Times to Post on Social Media and confirmed my suspicions.

Rather than paying attention to the day or time, I was posting whenever the mood struck me. That’s not necessarily when my community was online so even if the content was good, they weren’t seeing it or paying attention to it.

What did I do to adjust the times I was posting to social media?

For the better part of the year I was paying for the Awesome access on social media scheduler Buffer but I wasn’t always using it consistently. Even when I was, I hadn’t adjusted the time zone or posting times in months. That alone could help me but I decided to follow CoSchedule’s guidelines for time zone and best times to post on social media for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, my primary social media platforms.

When I started my experiment I had:

Twitter – 2880 followers

Facebook Blogging Badass Page – 620 likes

Facebook Blogging Badass Group – 107 members

LinkedIn – 718 connections, 802 followers

Goals of the Experiment

1. Schedule one month of posts on Buffer.
2. Add live posts at various days and times.
3. Use the same posting times for Facebook page and group.
4. 3,000 Twitter followers
5. Increase engagement in the Blogging Badass Facebook group.
6. Engage with target market on LinkedIn.

Honestly, I am surprised at the results of the best times to post on social media experiment. By the numbers, here’s where I ended the month:

Twitter – 2975 followers <+95>

Facebook Blogging Badass Page – 619 likes <-1>

Facebook Blogging Badass Group – 114 members <+7>

LinkedIn – 728 connections <+10>, 815 followers <+13>

Overall I feel like I spent less time on social media and got better results

but

the numbers aren’t the whole story of the best times to post on social media.

There were two surprises.

The first was the increase of 95 Twitter followers with little effort. The newest followers are aligned with my target markets of SEO and marketing companies, content creators, digital marketers, and fellow bloggers. I think that the times and consistency of tweets has helped as well as participating in twitter chats with complementary businesses, retweeting, live tweeting, and making strategic connections.

The second surprise was on LinkedIn. Not only did the number of connections and followers increase, there was more engagement on my posts. It is worth noting that along with adjusting the times, I made an effort to comment on posts by people in my target market. That got me seen by more people including two new clients.

Interestingly, during this experiment I didn’t publish on LinkedIn or my blog. I only recycled content I had already created and shared the best of what I found from others.

What can be learned from this experiment?

I learned that with focused effort and strategy I can grow my business and increase engagement in my online communities – and you can too.

• Identify your target market.
• Choose social media platforms where your target market spends time.
• Create and share your own content.
• Share the best content from others.
• Post relevant content at times when your community is most likely to see it.

Was the CoSchedule guide the key to the success of my experiment on the best times to post to social media? Yes but…. so was Buffer …. and so was the kickass content I created ….and so was the kickass content I found and shared. The real lesson is realizing that while I’ve learned a lot about social media in the last five years, there’s a lot more to learn.

Are you interested in learning how to use social media as part of your blogging strategy? Join the Blogging Badass Facebook group!